[Tfug] And another one down

[Bender]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bexley Hall" <bexley401 at yahoo.com>
To: <tfug at tfug.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2013 1:34 AM
Subject: Re: [Tfug] And another one down


> On 9/13/2013 8:07 PM, Bender wrote:
>
>>    I received three OEM drives from Newegg within six months time. They 
>> all
>> were wrapped with a layer of big bubble wrap taped over static shielded 
>> bags
>> the drives were in . Then this was inside the shipping box with peanuts.
>>
>>    no problems.
>
> "peanuts" ("cheetos", etc.) are not a very good packing method.
> They "fill space" but can shift/settle.

Agree with you on the peanuts. I hate the mess too. As opposed to the air 
bags to take up space, I prefer the peanuts.
Regarding hard drives, an inch and a half of robust bubble wrap all around 
is pretty good, IMO. So even if settling occurs... whatever.

Probably posted this years ago, but anyway, My first job was shipping stuff 
out for a commercial photographer. When they sent camera bodies for repair, 
they showed me how to make sure it would survive. It was tape a plastic bag 
over, then a big glob of bubble wrap plus kraft paper, *not* newspaper to 
fill up the space in all directions. For an expensive Hasselblad, 3-5 
inches. After a while they let me do it. Fun job. Free film.

> If you really want to ship robustly, you put 2 inches of "foam"
> around the item on all sides as the outermost "shell".

As a matter of fact, if you dig in the UPS tariff, it mentions the two inch 
cushioning figure, I believe. You go to their Silverlake location or a UPS 
store, they sell expandable polyurethane foam bags. not  cheap. Not as good 
but guess you could roll your own with spray foam and garbage bags.

> E.g., I'm thinking of ebay-ing an ASR-33 I have, here.  Shipping
> is the b*tch for things like this (fragile plastic case but heavy
> "mechanism" inside).  Once "packed", I figure I can just lay a sheet
> of mylar/plastic over the unit and fill the case with expanding
> foam (for that "2 inch shell")

DO you refer to a 30-50+ # teletype? You are going to ship one of those? 
Wow. Better use a double layer cardboard box. No question you will do it OK.

Current loop or RS-232? ASCII or baudot? I'd be interested in it for my 
collection, but I couldn't offer what people on the ebay might bid for it.

Shipping is one of my peeves about buying stuff on eBay. Most people pack 
poorly presumably because there's little guidance and it costs money..IDK 
After my high school shipping job experience, it's a horror to open some 
packages.

First thing I do when getting a box is to look and then shake it. If it 
sounds / feels like a rock tumbler - look out!